Statistics

Family Food Relief currently services over 8,500 families (duplicated) on an annual basis, comprised of over 77,500 individuals, including over 60,000 children.

In 2015….

More than 6,022,035 pounds of food were distributed through Family Food Relief, including over 922,535 pounds of poultry and 1,001,592 pounds of produce;

Over 18,000 hours of volunteer work were contributed to Family Food Relief;

$2,000,000 was spent on foods distributed free of charge to recipient families;

We delivered food free of charge to an average of 500 households each month.

General Hunger Statistics

In 2014, 17.6% of New Jersey’s total population and 22.6% of children in New Jersey were living below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).

One out of every four New Jersey families does not earn enough to cover basic necessities such as food and shelter (Poverty Research Institute, 2014).

In Lakewood, our organization’s base, 36.4% of families and 42.1% of children live below the poverty level (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013).

As of 2014, 11.7% of New Jersey’s households were struggling with low food security, and 4.9% were struggling with very low food security (USDA Economic Research Service, 2015).

Nearly 1 out of every five children in New Jersey struggles with food insecurity (Feeding America, Map the Meal Gap Study).

Between July 2010 and July 2015, there was a 34.3% increase in New Jersey households receiving SNAP benefits (Food Research and Action Center). However, SNAP benefits are not nearly enough to cover most households’ food needs for an entire month. In fact, in 2014, 31.6% of households who received SNAP benefits also obtained food from food pantries (USDA Economic Research Service, 2015).